Improvement in apparatus for forming hats and bonnets



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

S. H. LYON, OF NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND R. T. WILDE, OF

BROOKLYN,

NEV YORK.

IMPROVEMENT lN APPARATUS FOR FORMING HATS AND BON'NETS.

Specification forming part ot' Letters Patent No. 4] ,34 2, datedJanuary 19, 1864.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, S. H. LYON, of the city,

county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Machinery for Pressing Hats and Bonnets; and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ofthe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming partof this specification, in which- Figure lis a front view of the lowerpart of a hat-pressing machine constructed according to my invention.Fig. 2 is a central vertical section of the machine at right angles toFig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

This invention relates to the employment of mechanical clamps for thepurpose of holding the. brim of the hat or the-margin of the piece offelt or lother fabric of which a hat is formed, and of drawing andstretching the same over the former or hat-block preparatory to andduring the operation of the die. Such clamps as heretofore constructedhave consisted of a pair of rings or elliptic-shaped frames which havetaken hold of the margin ofthe brim or piece all around, and these couldnot be used successfully in the manufacture of hats from sheets of feltand some other fabrics, owing to their liability to tear the fabric, andare, moreover, inconvenient on account of their not being adjustable forhats of various sizes. With a view to obviate the above objection thefirst part of the invention consists in the employment, in combinationwith the block or former and die of a hatpressing machine, of a numberof separate clamps to take hold of the felt or fabric at its corners, orat suitable intervals, but not all around, thereby leaving the fabricfree to be drawn inward or contract from certain points as it isstretched from other points, as hereinafter described. Other features ofthe invention consist in making such clamps adjustable and 'in certainarrangements of and certain modes of adjusting and operatin g the clampsor stretching apparatus.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

A is the bed or base of the machine, having` erected on it at or nearits center the standard B, which supports the hat-block or former C. Thedie which comes over the block or former to press and form the hat isnot shown, but it may be applied and operated in the usual or anysuitable manner.

D is a frame, to which the clamps are attached, supported upon twoupright bars, E, which are tted to slide through suitable guides, F,secured to the base A. This frame has its interior considerably largerthan the largest part of the exterior of the hat-block or former, uponwhich the brin) of the hat is formed. The lower portions, G, of theclamps are composed of two iiat plates of semi-elliptical, semicircular,or other substantially similar form, toothed or roughened, as shown atc, in a suitable manner to enable them to bite the cloth, and these arebolted to the frame D-one in front and the other at the back-by means ofbolts b, which, by passing through slots d in the frame, enable the saidclamps to to snit larger or smaller hats. The upper portions oftheclamps are composed of four separate pieces, H, curved in a manner toconform to the plates G, and toothed or roughened in a similar manner ontheir under sides. These four pieces H are bolted or otherwise securedto two rock-shafts, J, which are arranged at the sides of the machine inbearings e, secured to the plates G, two of the said levers beingsecured to each rock-shaft. The bearings of each roclrshaft are attachedone to each of the plates G, and the two clamping-pieces H, belonging toeach shaft, operate one in connection with one plate G and the other inconnection with the other. The levers I are so secured to theirrespective shafts that they may be unfastened and moved along it for thepurpose of enabling the pieces H to be adjusted to the pieces G when thelatter are adjusted nearer together or farther apart for smaller orlarger hats. In the adjustment ot' the pieces H the levers I are alwaysbrought close to the bearings e, which, being attached to the plates G,form gages to set the pieces H. The lower arms ofthe two front levers,I- one on each shaftare extended under the frame D, as shown in Fig. I,and upon the exbe brought nearer together or farther apart tremity ofeach of the said arms there is piv oted a hand-lever, K, upon whichthere is formed a cam, f, which, by pulling forward the said lever, ismade to act against the bottom of the frame D in such manner as to drawdown the lever I, to which it is attached, and so made tol bring itsclamping-piece H and the corresponding clamping-piece attached to thesame shaft into operation, in combination with the clamping-plates G, tograsp the felt or other material of which the hat is composed. When thelevers K are thrown back, the front levers, I I, aie raised by springsg, connecting them with the frame, and the clamping-pieces H are therebyraised.

The vupright sliding bars E are furnished with toothed racks l, gearingwith two pinions, L, on a horizontal shaft, M, which works in suitablebearings, lr, attached to the standards which contain the guides F. Thisshaft is furnished in front ofthe machine with a handorank, N, by whichto turn it for the purpose of raising and lowering the bars E with theframe D and attached clamps, and is also fur-v nished behind the crankwith aratchet-wheel, I, and a pawl, m, is applied to act upon the saidratchet-wheel for the purpose of retaining the frame l) and clamps atany desired height.

The upright bars E are connected with the front and back of the frame D,by means of hinges or pivot-joints a, in such manner as to permit eitherthe front or back of the frame l) to be raised or lowered for thepurpose of` giving the frame any inclination ina backward and forwarddirection that may be desirable. This inclination is more especiallynecessary in the making and pressing of bonnets ot' some forms.

The operations ofthe clamps are as follows Before putting the felt orother material of which the hat or bonnet is to be formed into themachine the upper die is raised in the usual manner, the clamps areraised entirely above the block or former C by turning the crank N, andthereby raising the frame l) to a suitable height. The frame D is thenheld up by the pawl m while the fabric is inserted, the clampsbeingopen. Thefabric is of square or quadrangular form, as cut from thepiece by cutting longitudinally and transversely,

and when put in between the clamps and secured by drawing forward thelevers K is held at the four corners by the upper portions, H, of theclamps pressing one across each corner, as shown in Fig. 3, where, asinvFig. 2, the fabric is shown in red outline. The single attendant whooperates the machine then takes hohl of the crank N, and, after throwingont the pawl m from the ratchet wheel P, turns the shaft M in adirectionto depress the frame D and the clamps, and by that means the fabric isdrawn down over the block or former C, in the manner illustrated in Fi2, to a condition to be operated upon by the upper die, which is broughtdown upon it in the usual manner and allowed to remain upon it longenough to produce the desired eect, when the said die is raised and theclamps are opened and the hat or bonnet removed from the block or former(l. The pawl m is then returned to the ratchet-wheel and the frame D andclamps raised up again, as at first described, to receive a new piece offabric.

In the above operation the four clamps act like the four hands of thetwo attendants gein erally employed in operating a hat-pressingmachine-one standing in front and the other at the back of themachinetaking hold of a sufficient portion of the surfaces of the feltor other fabric to avoid tearing it at' the corners, but at the salnetime leaving portions of the sides of the fabric free to contract or bedrawn inward, to compensate in some degree for the stretch to whichother portions are subject, and thus preventing the tearing of the hat,which sometimes occurs when the up per and lower dies each consist of acontinuous piece. The blanksof which the hats are formed are commonlylarger from back to front than from side to side, and as felt cloth*-the material from which hats are most commonly made in machines of thiskind-will only stretch in one direction-viz., crosswise of the piece-:helength of the blank is cutin that direction, and, as with myimprovedsystem of clamps a greater portion of the longer sides is left out ofthe clamps, those sides, instead of being required to stretch, are morefree than the other sides to be drawn inward, to make up for thenecessary stretch lengthwise or cornerwise of the blank in forming the vhat.

I will here remark that I have understood that it has been attempted toemploy hooks in hat-pressing machines for a purpose similar to myseparate clamps, but that such hooksl have been liable to the sameobjection as the continuous clamps-viz., the tearing of the fabric.

I do not claim, broadly, the use of mechanical clamps in machines forforming hats when such clamps are made continuous all round the block orformer; nor doI claim the use of hooks insuch machines for holding theblank or hat at intervals; but j What I claim as my invention, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The employment in a machine for pressing or forming hats of separateclamps arranged to take hold of the fabric at the corners or at suitableintervals,substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

2. Making such clamps adjustable to suit hats of various sizes,substantially as herein described.

3. The attachment of the upper portions, H, of the clamps to levers I,carried by two rock-shafts, J, and operated by cam-levers K, the wholearranged in connection with the frame D, and operating substantially asherein described.

4. The arrangement of the bearings e of the either end of the clamps tobe raised or lowrock-shafts J upon the lower clamp-plates, G, ered atpleasure, substantially as and for the to serve as gages by which toadjust the uppurpose herein described. per clamping pieces, H,relatively to the said plates G, substantially as herein described. S' HLYON' 5. Supporting the clamps upon two toothed Witnesses: rack-bars, E,or their equivalents, which are' Trios. S. J. DOUGLAS,

so jointed at their upper ends as to permit GEO. W. REED.

